1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and system for selling commodities to constituent members of a group, particularly to employees of a company.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sales of commodities to employees have been executed as one of several welfare services for employees among a plurality of companies. Sales of commodities to employees represents the process of selling commodities to the employees of a company at a lower price than usual or it represents granting a certain special favor (awarding the recipient some benefits).
Commodity sales to employees are, for example, executed as follows. When a seller who sells commodities wants to sell commodities to employees of a company, firstly the seller has to enter into a contract with a personnel department or a welfare department of the company. Then, after concluding the contract with the department, the seller presents the catalogs of the commodities to the department. The welfare department distributes or circulates the commodity catalogs to the employees. When an employee of the company wants to purchase some of the commodities shown in the commodity catalog, the employee orders the commodities using an order sheet attached to the catalog. This order sheet is sent to the seller via the welfare department. When the seller receives the order sheet, the seller dispatches the ordered commodities to the purchaser. Payment for the ordered commodities is made, for example, in cash or through a deduction from the purchaser's salary.
The welfare department of the company that employs the employees intervenes between the seller and the employees in the commodity sales to employees, as mentioned above. In a big company that has a large number of employees, naturally the number of employees who make applications for such commodity sales is large, thus causing the department to require much labor and time to deal with the orders. For instance, the labor and time required to check a large number of orders (or applications) and the labor and time required to transfer the order sheets to the seller are great burdens to the welfare department.
In addition, the greater the burden on the welfare department, the more often the orders placed by employees remain outstanding at the department. So, such a case is likely to occur that a long time is required from the time of ordering of commodities to delivery of the commodities, or that the welfare department cannot firmly recognize how the orders are being handled. It also often bothers the employees who have placed an order for commodities how they have to settle their accounts for the ordered commodities. In addition, it is a matter of great importance to the company that if its employees peruse the catalogs and/or make an application to purchase commodities during the working hours, the labor productivity of the company may drop.
The above-mentioned problems can be solved by transforming the process of the commodity sales to employees into a process using electronic data. For instance, if the seller of the commodities makes an electronic catalog of the commodities and transfers it to the terminal of each employee, the burden on the welfare department is thought to become light. In addition, if E-commerce is introduced for the settlement of payments, that will also make the burden on the welfare department light.
It is true, however, that the scheme of commodity sales to employees is one of welfare services by the company for the employees, which is not a business directly producing a profit. Thus, virtually no budget is given for transforming the commodity sales to employees into an electronic system. The actual situation is, therefore, that transformation of the process of the commodity sales to employees into a process using electronic data has not been implemented in most companies.
This problem is not limited to the commodity sales to employees, but it also occurs to commodity sales to constituent members of various groups and organizations.